IFFI Masterclass | Advancing Operations in Food

Name: IFFI Masterclass | Advancing Operations in Food
Start: 2026-11-12T12:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-11-12T21:00:00+01:00
Location: Landgoed Bergvliet

This IFFI Masterclass offers an in-depth exploration of how food ingredient producers can strengthen their operational capabilities in an increasingly complex and resource-constrained environment.

12 November 2026 | 12:00 - 21:00

This IFFI Masterclass focuses on strengthening operational capabilities in the food ingredients industry amid growing complexity and limited resources.

Participants gain in-depth insights into modern maintenance strategies, including predictive modelling, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality, aimed at improving asset reliability, uptime, and overall equipment effectiveness. The program also tackles a critical industry challenge: the structural shortage of skilled personnel. Practical approaches to knowledge management, workforce development, and AI-enabled support tools are explored.

The program combines expert keynotes with real-life business cases from operational leaders in the food ingredients sector.

What’s in it for me?

As a participant, you will:

Cyber Attack in Food: Learn from a real cyberattack and strengthen your organization’s resilience.
Staff Deployment & Skill Gap: Gain practical strategies to tackle workforce shortages and safeguard critical knowledge.
Next Gen Maintenance: Discover how data and technology can improve asset reliability, uptime and maintenance performance.
Company Visit Döhler: Experience operational excellence in practice and take home actionable ideas for your own organization.

In short, you gain practical knowledge, strategic perspective, and hands-on inspiration to take the operations in your organization to the next level.

ABOUT

IFFI Masterclass | Advancing Operations in Food

Advancing Operations in the Food Ingredients Industry

This IFFI Masterclass explores how food ingredient producers can strengthen their operational performance in an increasingly complex and resource-constrained environment.

Participants will gain insights into modern maintenance strategies, including predictive modelling, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality to improve asset reliability, uptime, and overall equipment effectiveness.

The masterclass also addresses the challenge of operating in a market with a structural shortage of skilled personnel. Maarten Vrolijk (FrieslandCampina) will discuss practical approaches to workforce development, knowledge management, and support tools.

Cybersecurity is another key topic. Alex Kruiter and Richard Elsinga (Royal Smilde) will explain the impact cyberattacks can have on organizations and production operations, and how companies can strengthen their operational resilience in food.

Through keynote sessions and real-life business cases, this masterclass offers a practical learning experience for professionals seeking to advance operational excellence in the food ingredients industry.

This masterclass includes an exclusive company visit to Döhler in Oosterhout, where participants will translate the insights from day one into their own operational practice.

PROGRAM

Thursday, 12 November

Landgoed Bergvliet

12:00 – 13:00 hrs
Registration & lunch

13:10 – 13:10 hrs
Opening by Halbe Vogel, IFFI

13:10 – 13:25 hrs
Welcome and introduction by Jan ten Have, Döhler

13:25 – 14:15 hrs
‘Advancing Operations’, by Jan ten Have, Döhler

14:15 – 15:00 hrs
Break and travel to Döhler

15:00 – 16:00 hrs
Company tour Döhler

16:00- 16:45 hrs
Break and travel back to Landgoed Bergvliet

16.45 – 17:00 hrs
Presentation by Rugene Leito (researcher and lecturer) and Diego Castillo Schwarzenberg (student), Haagse Hogeschool

17:00 – 17.30 hrs
‘Closing the skill gap’ by Maarten Vrolijk, FrieslandCampina

17:30 – 17:35 hrs
Wrap up

17:35 – 18:30 hrs
Pre-dinner drinks

18:30 – 19:30 hrs
Dinner

19:30 – 20:30 hrs

‘Cyber Attack in Food’ by Alex Kruiter and Richard Elsinga, Royal Smilde

20:30 hrs
Wrap up and closing by Halbe Vogel, IFFI

SPEAKERS

Jan ten Have, Head of Operations Cluster Europe & MEA, Döhler

Jan ten Have is Head of Operations Cluster Europe & MEA at Döhler, a global supplier of natural ingredients for the food and beverage industry. He oversees manufacturing sites across Western Europe and Africa and has extensive experience in operations and supply chain management.

Maarten Vrolijk – Manufacturing Director, FrieslandCampina

Maarten Vrolijk is a results-driven operations leader currently serving as the Manufacturing Director Cheese Multisite at FrieslandCampina. Bringing extensive expertise in dairy production and international supply chain management, he oversees manufacturing and operational performance across multiple key locations, including Marum, Balkbrug, and Steenderen. Maarten has a proven track record of driving operational excellence, executing complex plant turnarounds, and scaling production capabilities, including successfully doubling daily output during his international tenure as Plant Manager in Nigeria. An alumnus of INSEAD, he specializes in continuous improvement, capacity optimization, and building high-performing manufacturing teams on the factory floor.

Alex Kruiter – Managing Director, Smilde Bakery

Alex Kruiter serves as the strategic Managing Director at Royal Smilde Bakery.He commands a wealth of experience in the international food manufacturing industry, accumulated over a long-standing career within the overarching Smilde group. Prior to spearheading the bakery division, he championed commercial development, R&D, and innovation frameworks as Commercial Director at Smilde Foods. Alex is recognized for his market-driven perspective, focusing intensely on business growth, capturing consumer trends, and integrating strategic acquisitions, such as pastry manufacturer De Maro. He completed his executive education at the EFMI Business School.

Richard Elsinga – ICT Manager, Royal Smilde

Richard Elsinga operates as the proactive ICT Manager at Royal Smilde.He holds key responsibility for anchoring the group’s digital architecture, ensuring robust data exchange across multiple business units and European factory locations. Richard heavily emphasizes the value of operational stability, recently driving large-scale infrastructure overhauls, such as standardizing the company’s enterprise platform with JD Edwards & RF-SMART. Beyond day-to-day IT management, he stands out as an advocate for corporate cybersecurity resilience. He famously guided the organization through critical crisis responses, implementing rigorous multi-factor authentication (MFA) protocols and comprehensive business continuity frameworks to safeguard enterprise data.

SESSIONS

‘Closing the skill gap’ by Maarten Vrolijk, FrieslandCampina

This session focuses on one of the most critical operational challenges facing the food ingredients industry: maintaining performance and continuity in an environment with a structural shortage of skilled personnel. As experienced operators, technicians, and specialists become increasingly difficult to recruit and retain, organizations must rethink how they organize work, develop talent, and safeguard operational knowledge.

Participants will explore practical strategies for workforce development, knowledge management, and organizational resilience. The session will examine how companies can capture and transfer critical expertise, accelerate onboarding and training, support employees through digital tools, and create more flexible and future-ready operations. The role of AI-enabled support systems in assisting operators, maintenance teams, and decision-makers will also be discussed.

Maarten Vrolijk (FrieslandCampina) will share real-life experiences from his organizations, including lessons learned in addressing workforce shortages, strengthening operational capabilities, and preparing operations for the future. The session combines strategic insights with practical examples that participants can apply within their own operational environment.

‘Cyber Attack in Food’ by Alex Kruiter and Richard Elsinga, Royal Smilde

What happens when a cyberattack suddenly disrupts a food manufacturing company? In this session, Alex Kruiter and Richard Elsinga of Royal Smilde share their first-hand experience of a cyber incident and its impact on the organization.

They will take participants through what happened and how the attack affected the company’s operations from different perspectives. Beyond the immediate IT challenges, they will discuss the consequences for day-to-day business and management, as well as the human side of a cyberattack: how do employees respond when familiar systems and processes are suddenly unavailable, and what does such an incident mean for the people within an organization?

Drawing on their own experience, Kruiter and Elsinga offer an inside look at the impact of a cyberattack on an entire organization and share the lessons they took away from the incident.

Company visit – Döhler Oosterhout

The second day of the masterclass features also an exclusive visit to Döhler, offering participants a unique opportunity to experience operational excellence in practice. During the visit, participants will gain insight into the host company’s production environment, operational organization, and improvement initiatives, and will engage directly with the company’s operations executives and specialists.

Building on the themes discussed during the first day, the session is designed to stimulate reflection, peer-to-peer exchange, and practical application. The company visit creates an interactive learning environment in which theory, real-life operations, and professional dialogue come together, enabling participants to leave the masterclass with concrete ideas and actions that can be applied within their own organization.

PARTICIPANTS

This masterclass is designed for executives, managers, and professionals working in Operations within the food ingredients industry, including Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Maintenance, Quality, Technology, Engineering, and Continuous Improvement. It is intended for employees of both IFFI-affiliated companies and non-affiliated food ingredient manufacturers who are involved in improving operational performance. Participants will have the opportunity to exchange insights, experiences, and best practices on advanced operations in the food ingredients industry.

The IFFI Operations Committee, whose members all work in operations within the food ingredients industry, has ensured that the programme’s themes reflect the industry’s needs. This makes the programme timely and relevant for IFFI member companies.

Questions regarding this meeting? Contact Marita Mantle-Kloosterboer via marita@iffi.nu.

EVENT INFO

Registration

The IFFI masterclass includes lunch, dinner and drinks.

Registration is open for IFFI affiliating companies and non-affiliating manufacturers of food ingredients:

Participants employed by IFFI affiliating companies: participation is covered by the membership fee.
Participants employed by non-affiliating manufacturers of food ingredients.: € 1.350,- (excl. VAT); please complete the registration for. After validation, an invoice will be sent.